Toma Ciorbă (15 January 1864 – 30 December 1936) was a Romanian physician and hospital director.

Biography

Born in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

, then the capital of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate was a province (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its administrative centre in Kishinev (Chișinău). It consisted of an area of and a population of 1,935,412 inhabitants. The Bessarabia Governorate bordered t ...

, after 1918 a part of

Greater Romania Greater Romania () is the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union or the related pan-nationalist ideal of a nation-state which would incorporate all Romanian speakers.Irina LivezeanuCultural Politics in Greate ...

and now the capital of

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

, he was the first of six children and his father was a soldier. In 1875, he entered Bessarabia's leading secondary school, and in 1885, he began studying at

Kiev University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

's medicine faculty. In 1893, after graduation, he returned to his native city to work as a physician in the health service. In 1896, he planned and opened an infectious disease hospital, of which he became director. It was the first specialized medical facility in the province, and Ciorbă, in addition to being administrator, worked as a bacteriologist and a teacher to young nurses and midwives. He encountered resistance both from the authorities and from the increasing number of private doctors, and found it difficult to purchase equipment and medicine. He lived modestly and did not charge poor patients, indeed often paying for their medicines or sending them wood for their stoves. He was invited to work in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, but declined. He promoted an anti-

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

vaccine, creating a laboratory for its production, and began a program for the compulsory vaccination of children against the disease.

Iurie Colesnic Iurie Colesnic (born 12 August 1955) is a technical literature corrector, former publishing director, literary historian, politician and writer of the Republic of Moldova. Biography Iurie Colesnic was born on 12 August 1955 in the village of ...

, ''Chișinău: Enciclopedie'', p. 150. Editura Museum, 1997, In addition, he introduced vaccine therapy in the treatment of

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacteria, bacterium ''Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild Course (medicine), clinical course, but in some outbreaks, the mortality rate approaches 10%. Signs a ...

.Toma Ciorbă
at the Toma Ciorbă Chișinău Infectious Disease Hospital In the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, he served as a field doctor in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

. Afterwards, he initiated a provincial society for

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

nurses, and managed the building of a Red Cross clinic. He retired as hospital director in 1932.Andrei Brezianu, Vlad Spânu, ''Historical Dictionary of Moldova'', p. 85-6. Scarecrow Press, 2007, Today, both the Chișinău Infectious Disease Hospital and a nearby street bear his name.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ciorba, Toma 1864 births 1936 deaths Physicians from Chișinău People from Kishinyovsky Uyezd Bacteriologists Serologists Romanian hospital administrators Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Medical faculty alumni Military doctors from the Russian Empire Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War